Empty Seat
by Kipcha
Summary: Five years since she told him she loved him. Five years since his rejection. Five years of sorrow and devotion to him eating away at her, yet she still loved him with all of her heart. That was why she always saved him that seat. TxE


**I do not own Cardcaptor Sakura**

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She walked gracefully onto the stage into the soft spotlight, causing it to reflect off her pale porcelain skin. Her long black hair flowed down her back like a waterfall, the deep ebony sparkling in the spotlight. She opened her melancholy azure eyes which shimmered dully as she parted her lips, ready to sing to the crowd that had shown up for her concert, just to hear her.

As she had done for the past five years, she glanced over to the one seat she always reserved for him. The one that she had told she loved so very, very long ago. The one that had said although he appeared to be the same age, he was much older then her. The one that had said that although she was breathtakingly beautiful, unbelieving talented and very intelligent, not to mention observant beyond her years, she needed to find someone her own age. Someone that truly understood her and didn't see her as, this was what had hurt her the most, a little girl, trying her wings out in the large cruel world.

And once again, the velvet seat was empty, as it always had been, and she knew it always would be. As she allowed her voice to flow through the hall, enchanting and smooth as silk, she allowed a single tear to fall down her cheek at the memory of her lost love.

_Flashback_

_Tomoyo wrung her hands nervously, glancing around the schoolyard nervously. She had allowed her opportunity to slip through her fingers before, she would not allow it again._

_Eriol had returned after two years, claiming he wished to see the progress Sakura had made with the cards. After two years of watching Sakura's relationship develop with Syaoran, she couldn't help but feel the loneliness that crept into her heart, and all she could think of was that navy haired, blue eyed, well mannered boy that had left her life so abruptly, and she hadn't been able to forget him. They were so alike, even Sakura had started teasing her about the letters she wrote to him in England, claiming she was just checking up on Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. And now he was back, she took it as a sign to finally tell him._

_He turned the corner at a gentle, easy gait, observing her with that smirk of his. She had chosen this spot particularly for one reason. The cherry blossom trees here were one of her favourite place in the city, the way the pink blossoms floated around her creating quite the romantic affect, and she blush lightly, lighting her pale cheeks. She almost never blushed, and it was rather new to her._

_Eriol walked until he stood in front of her, a light smile on his face and his blue eyes cunning as always._

_"So, what did you wish to speak of Daidoji-san?" He asked her._

_"Well, first you can start calling me Tomoyo." She blushed again, and cursed her lack of self control._

_One eyebrow raised, giving him an even more comical expression then before, but he continued to listen._

_"U-um... Eriol-kun... I..." She cursed inwardly once more. How many times had she lightly teased Syaoran about never being able to do this? She found the irony overwhelming. "I... Eriol-kun, I think... I like you."_

_Right after she blurted it out, she saw his eyes widen a little but that was the only change that she noticed in him. Blushing a little more she looked at the ground that was covered in soft pink petals._

_"Tomoyo-san..." He began slowly, kindly, but she refused to look up, "I am afraid that I cannot return those feelings."_

_Tomoyo felt her heart wrench, as if it had twisted inside her very chest. She took a sharp intake of breath and immediately felt tears well and threaten to fall, but she held them back savagely, remembering something Syaoran had said so very long ago._

_"If I cry, or make a sad face, she will notice and think it is her fault. So it would trouble her. So I won't tell her, because her happiness means everything."_

_And what had she said? If you tell her, she will be happy. She was such a romantic fool, allowing fantasies to overtake reality and shroud her better judgement, which was usually so very perceptive, and do something foolish that would cost her... everything._

_"Tomoyo-san?" Asked Eriol's voice again, gently._

_She looked up at him, her eyes suspiciously bright with unushed tears, but she still managed a serene smile and a calm outward appearance as she always had with Sakura, the same understanding look._

_"Are you okay, Tomoyo-san?" He asked slowly, his eyes obviously guilty._

_"Oh no, I'm fine, really." She nodded, still smiling gently, "I'll be okay. Oh, I'd better go, the limo is probably waiting."_

_Eriol breathed deeply, as if thinking about something hard. "Tomoyo-san, I may appear to be your age, but Clow-sans memories are still stored in me. I am his reincarnation... I am old beyond any years. I am so much older then you, Tomoyo-san. You need to find the right man for you, and someday you will. Someone your own age, someone who is your maturity level." He looked down at the grass as Tomoyo struggled to keep a sob inside of her, "You need to move on from this, Tomoyo-san. You need to move on, because you are still so young, a girl testing herself in this great big cruel world, and although what I say may sound cruel to you, Tomoyo-san, remember that I do care for you very much, just not in such a way, and it truly pains me to say all of this to you."_

_Tomoyo nodded in understanding, murmured a quick goodbye so he couldn't really hear her difficulty breathing past the enormous lump in her throat, before turning ans fleeing, two crystal tears rolling down her face and landing on the ground, shimmering and allowing the world to see the hurt that she had refused to show him._

She sang. Her pain and sorrow flowed through her voice, enchanting her audience. Her eyes closed, she only envision him, smiling gently at her, his hand extended to her own. In the back of her mind, she knew why he wasn't there. She always reserved the seat for him, but she never contacted him to alert him to his always available chair, in the front row.

She was too afraid to face him. Afraid to see the guilt and pity on his face, afraid of the ever lasting rejection. She still yearned for him, but she knew, in her heart she knew...

He would always be just another empty seat.

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**Well, angsty enough for you? Yes, it was rather depressing, but I will not be adding onto this, changing the ending so they are together, or putting on another chapter, because I rather like it how it is.**

**_Cheers,  
Kipcha_**


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